A Pessimist's Luxury
Introduction: This story takes place right before the war between Wutai and ShinRa. Vincent is, as you've probably surmised from the summary, still a Turk…and after our favorite innocent princess. Scratch the innocent.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII/prequels/sequels. I do, however, have the rights to that wildlife that never quite makes an appearance XD
Summary: AU: Vincent Valentine, Turk extraordinaire, is sent on a simple assignment: kidnap her royal highness. He didn't expect any glitches…nobody did. YuffieVincent
Prologue
Yuffie cursed vehemently, colorful words slipping easily off her snarling lips. Someone was following her. This came to her attention only recently, and through no fault of her apparent pursuer. She hadn't heard anyone, she hadn't sensed anyone, and she hadn't seen anyone lurking in the shadows of the dense forest. In fact, her only clue to any sort of pursuit was one, half-smudged footprint upon the dirt-covered path, which she was standing stock-still in the middle of. As innocent as her presumed evidence looked, Yuffie knew better than to disregard it.
When she first-set out, the clouds overhead were only beginning to gather, and the possibility of rain wasn't the most prominent concern in traveling through the thick forest. Fiends and other such wildlife were somewhat more worrisome. Such undue anxiety, however, was proven to be unnecessary when the ninja didn't encounter one glitch in her path because it did, in fact, begin raining, and with a tired sigh of irritation, Yuffie realized she was the only one dumb enough to get caught in such lousy whether.
She decided to return then, not particularly keen on soaking through and freezing in the cold wind of early November. Her dad and his irritating, never-ending search for materia could wait.
That's when her eyes landed on what she presumed to be a varyingly-colored mud patch, but what turned out to be something much worse. The shinboi was fully set on stepping around the textured bit of smooth torrents of mud, but halted slightly when she noticed a very definite shape draw itself out of the plain, brown canvas.
Most certainly, her feet where not so large. An appraising look of comparison and a soft chuckle marked her decision on that. So…? Pursuit? It wasn't entirely unlikely. With a war glaring down the backs of both Wutai and ShinRa, kidnapping was not exempt from the hordes of illegal activities accompanying combat preparations. The fact that it was, indeed, Shinra, Wutai was dealing with, only strengthened the ninja's hold on the horrifying conjecture.
Oh how she would later wish she never stopped in front of that blasted footprint. How she'd berate herself a million times over for opening her mouth and letting out that colorful phrase that had no place on the lips of a Wutaian princess. But what could she do later when a needle embedded itself in her bare shoulder and she found herself looking bleary-eyed at a pair of black boots that were advancing on her frozen figure?
Nothing.
She could do nothing, but let the alluring obscurity claim her.
A/N: I hope you liked the prologue! I know it was very short, but I suppose I simply wanted to get the idea out there, considering it was bothering me tremendously XD Please tell me what you think. I already have the second chapter started, and promise it'll be much more exciting that this one. Thanks for reading, and once again, I hope you've enjoyed.